No Second Coming: Jim Caviezel Won’t Play Jesus in Passion of the Christ Sequel
In a surprise shake-up, Mel Gibson’s two-part Passion of the Christ sequel is moving forward without Jim Caviezel returning as Jesus.
Well, here is a twist I did not have on my sequel bingo card: Mel Gibson is moving ahead with The Resurrection of the Christ without the original Jesus. Yep, Jim Caviezel is out.
Caviezel is not coming back as Jesus
Page Six broke the news today that Caviezel will not reprise his most famous role in Gibson's two-part follow-up to The Passion of the Christ. No official reason was given. The likely cocktail, per their reporting: the sheer amount of digital de-aging that would have been required and scheduling headaches. For context, scripture pegs Jesus at 33 at the crucifixion; Caviezel is 57.
Earlier chatter had Caviezel returning with either heavy makeup or CG smoothing. That is not happening. Instead, Gibson has been meeting younger actors in Rome, where he is gearing up to shoot the two-parter.
"I won't tell you how he's going to go about it. But I'll tell you this much — the film he's going to do is going to be the biggest film in history. It's that good."
That was Caviezel talking about Gibson's plans in past interviews, sounding pretty confident he would be back. Not anymore.
And it is not just him
Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene in The Passion, is also not returning. Both she and Caviezel had been widely expected to come back, so this is a real reset.
What Gibson is making this time
The Resurrection of the Christ is a two-part telling of the resurrection story. Gibson has described the approach as an "acid trip" — not exactly a subtle tease — and the word going around is that, because of the material, he is not planning to shoot these in Aramaic like the original.
Release plan and who is distributing
Lionsgate is handling both installments. The dates are very targeted:
- Part One: March 26, 2027 (Good Friday)
- Part Two: May 6, 2027 (Ascension Day)
Where Caviezel goes from here
He is not exactly idle. After a big run with Angel Studios' Sound of Freedom, he is set to appear in their biblical epic Zero A.D. as King Herod.
Quick history lesson on The Passion
The Passion of the Christ was infamous for its graphic violence and was a monster at the box office. For years it held the top spot among R-rated films domestically, a run that finally got bumped by Deadpool & Wolverine last year.
Bottom line: Gibson is starting fresh with a new Jesus and likely a new Mary Magdalene, shooting soon in Rome, and aiming straight at those 2027 holy-day dates. Surprising? Definitely. Smart move? We will see.